Alliance plays key role in bringing events to Hub City

Hotel group helps with concerts, other events

If not for the Aberdeen Hotel Alliance, the concerts at old Swisher Field last summer and this weekend probably wouldn’t have happened.

The Hotel Alliance, which is funded by a $2 nightly hotel tax, has provided crucial money to those musical events, as well as other Aberdeen activities.

Jason Reinke of Aberdeen is promoting tonight’s “A Country Night Out” at the old football field in northeast Aberdeen, which some call the Fossum Field complex. Aaron Tippin and Highway 101 are performing tonight.

Reinke said that, without the Hotel Alliance support, he wouldn’t have staged tonight’s concert because of the risk factor.

“It would have been way too risky to try it without getting some help from them,” Reinke said, referring to the Hotel Alliance.

Last summer, old Swisher was the scene of a Christian music festival, GloryFest, and an event called Country Jamboree USA.

Heidi Appel of the Aberdeen Convention and Visitors Bureau said those concerts probably wouldn’t have happened without Hotel Alliance support, “or they wouldn’t have happened to the magnitude that they did.”

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Those involved would not say how much money was given to the promoters of the three concerts. But the Hotel Alliance gave out $219,325 in sponsorship money in 2009 and $195,250 in 2010. So far this year, sponsorships total $88,300.

Tax collected

The Hotel Alliance was set up to operate Business Improvement District II, which collects the $2 tax on hotel rooms. When an organizer asks for support, the Alliance board weighs six or seven factors “to see if it’s something that fits within our mission,” said Alliance president Nate Kessler.

The many activities that receive a boost from the Hotel Alliance include the South Dakota Film Festival, Brown County Fair, many sports events and the Northeast South Dakota Celtic Faire and Games.

Among those seeking funds are individuals looking to present concerts.

“Aberdeen business owners get tapped for sponsorship quite a bit, and it’s nice to have an extra outlet for these entertainment professionals, I would call them, to come to for money” and start-up costs, said Heidi Appel, assistant director of the CVB and the events coordinator for the Hotel Alliance.

“All of these people could have gotten sponsorships, but the type of talent that we’re talking about costs a lot of money,” she said.

The Hotel Alliance, she noted, gives the Brown County Fair “close to $30,000 a year to make sure that the grandstand entertainment is something that Aberdeen can be proud of.”

“It costs tens of thousands of dollars to put on” even a small event, she said.

The next level

In addition to seeking new events for Aberdeen, the Alliance tries to take existing events and “try to get them to the next level,” Kessler said. The goal is to make them extend over two days or more.

One of the Alliance’s hopes is that the more an event such as a concert happens, “the more the community sees value in that and they will step up” to support them, Appel said.

One reason old Swisher Field attracts concerts, Appel said, is because the area is surrounded by fencing, which is “great for security.”

In addition, the power’s pretty good out there and the Aberdeen Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department is very easy to work with, she said.

The complex also has lighting available if needed.

“There’s just a few things that happen out there that make it just a little bit easier” for concert promoters, she said.

Among the events the Hotel Alliance supports are swim meets, the South Dakota All-Star games, the Storybook Land Festival and the Aberdeen University/Civic Symphony.

Money from the Hotel Alliance is one reason the Great Aberdeen Pig Out expanded into a two-day event.

Hotel Alliance support is very instrumental in the success of the South Dakota Film Festival, said festival co-producer Tom Black.

Enhances quality

The Alliance, Appel said, enhances the quality of existing activities. “So we don’t cut too many corners, so we have great events.”

Kessler noted that the Alliance is working with the state’s firefighters, who met last week in Aberdeen, in hopes of getting them to return.

The Alliance’s main goal, Kessler said, is actually to support winter events, because tourism traffic in Aberdeen is already high during the summer.

“We’re mainly looking for events in our off season to bring people to the community and spend their money,” Kessler said.